China’s Path to Achieve World-Class Education

With the reform movement in 1978, the Chinese government began to make great efforts to develop its country’s education. Xi Jinping’s administration has continued these efforts, attempting to achieve a world-class education system by 2020. This paper will examine the accomplishments of the Chinese education system in the post-Mao era, and discuss the gap between the current status of Chinese education and the requirements of a world-class education, ultimately arguing that there is still a big gap between a Chinese education and the most advantaged education systems in the world. To establish a globalized educational system, build world-class universities, and train internationally recognized Chinese scholars, this paper suggests that it is necessary for China to scrutinize and reshape its educational philosophy, since a philosophy of education is the guiding principle for any country to achieve the goal of providing its citizens with a world-class education.